Unemployment Falling Despite Lost Jobs

Colorado lost 700 jobs in August, however, state unemployment still fell two-tenths of a point, to 5.1 percent – its lowest level in six years.

August was a paradoxical month in which two different government employment surveys (one of employers and the other of workers) showed differing job trends in Colorado.

The August survey of employers showed the state’s first net loss of payroll jobs in nearly three years. On the other hand, the household survey of Colorado residents showed that 2,200 more Coloradans counted themselves as employed last month, while 3,700 people dropped out of the state’s labor force (defined as working people plus those without a job but actively seeking work).

Those two household survey trends combined meant a drop in the unemployment rate to its lowest level since September 2008, and a full point below the national jobless rate of 6.1 percent. The unemployment rate in Colorado has dropped 1.7 percentage points from August 2013’s rate of 6.8 percent.